Tauranga hotel’s new owner plans spruce-up

A major Wellington-based property investment group has bought Tauranga’s Hotel Armitage and intends to upgrade and enlarge it.

The 81-room hotel on the corner of Willow St and Park St had just finished major earthquake strengthening to bring it up to A-grade seismic strength.

Further modernisation could take the hotel from its current three-star plus grading to a four-star hotel.

Primeproperty Group is headed by 58-year-old Eyal Aharoni who said they will give Hotel Armitage a full upgrade and potentially enlarge it. “There is quite a large land parcel so there’s room for growth.”

It was the Wellington-based company’s first investment in Tauranga although Aharoni visited the city two or three times a year — until recently mooring a boat at Bridge Marina.

He said he had a real affection for Tauranga and loved cycling around the city.

The airport was within walking distance of the marina. “What I like is that everything is so close.”

Aharoni said Hotel Armitage was well positioned. “We think it will be a good property. It is a lovely place.”

He believed that Tauranga would become a major tourist destination.

“I have been looking at Tauranga for quite some time.”

Hotel Armitage’s owner for 20 years David Gardner said all Aharoni had to do was the “inside pretties“.

He said the hotel probably appealed to the over-45s, corporate travellers and sports teams because of its restaurants, bars and useful areas where guests could meet friends and business associates.

“Europeans love it because it is one of those older-type hotels.”

He said it was pretty hard to make a block building look nice but every room had a terrace balcony.

The tariff of $135 for a room was at the lower end and he said 2015 had been phenomenal for the hotel after business had “declined a touch“.

Gardner, who also owned City Suites opposite The Domain, said he decided to sell because he had reached 65 and had owned the hotel for 20 years.

He was heartened by the injection of funds by the council into events, saying events were essential for the city and downtown.

Aharoni founded Primeproperty Group in the early 1990s and has guided it to become one of Wellington’s biggest property companies.

Its investments were primarily in Wellington but it had a small number of commercial properties in Hamilton and owned Beachside Resort in Whitianga.

Nuree Allan, managing director of Link business brokers in the Bay and Waikato, said the sale of Armitage Hotel was a one-off opportunity to secure a freehold going concern located on one of the best sites in Tauranga.

The sale was handled by two Link Business Brokers, Bay of Plenty/Waikato agents Nuree Allan and Michael Osbourne.